


Decision

by TeaRoses



Category: Silent Hill (Video Game Series)
Genre: Child Abuse, F/M, Short Ficlet, implied shipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 21:45:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13280490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeaRoses/pseuds/TeaRoses
Summary: Vincent is no hero, but there comes a time for a decision.  Short ficlet written from the prompt "dealing with demons" in hurt/comfort bingo.  Warning:  contains child abuse.





	Decision

**Author's Note:**

> Once again I have no idea if Vincent's last name is really "Smith" but that's what the archive is using so I went with it.

The faceless one stood before Vincent, silent, staring at him without eyes. Vincent's hands were trembling slightly as he hold the scroll but he kept his voice steady. "You know where she is," he pronounced gravely. "And you are going to tell me."

He was being ridiculous, he supposed. Valtiel had a mouth somewhere but definitely never spoke. But Vincent had not seen Claudia in days. His first assumption, of course, had been that it was her father's fault. The last time Leonard had beaten her Claudia had stayed home for days so no one would see the marks he left. Vincent had come to her window at night and whispered to her to be strong. That was ironic, because Vincent knew that he himself was not strong or he would stand up to Leonard and get Claudia out of Silent Hill somehow, instead of holding her carefully in his arms after she was bruised and bloody and telling her someday he would change things.

Claudia wasn't hiding at home though. Leonard denied knowing where she was, and Vincent believed him. So Vincent had read from the scroll and even drew blood from his own hand so that Valtiel would appear before him.

Vincent hated Valtiel and he always had. Claudia knew how to draw Valtiel to her even without magic and sometimes Vincent wondered if she were having one-sided conversations with the creature about serving the god. Vincent thought Valtiel was more a demon than an angel and did not like this living proof that the god existed, or was supposed to exist. "Father Vincent" believed only what he could see, but unfortunately he could see Valtiel and could not deny what this town really was. 

If the god did come back there would be an accounting and many would be found wanting, Vincent among them. But that wasn't important right now. If he could only find Claudia, he wouldn't be stuck alone in this place. 

"You know that she will receive a horrible punishment if her father finds her before I do," said Vincent. "If I know where she is I can try to protect her and if she is... gone, I want to know." He could feel his own pulse beating in his neck. Claudia had to be alive. 

Valtiel didn't move, but Vincent saw a dark spot on the wall that began to grow. It grew bigger and bigger, and Vincent realized that it was not a hole but a tunnel. Valtiel faced him and nodded. Vincent stared back. "She's gone into the dark side?" he asked. "Not that this whole damn place is anything but a dark side." But there was another place, one of rust and silence behind the mirrors, and if Claudia had gone into it she could be lost.

Vincent stared into the tunnel. There was nothing there but darkness. Going through would be foolish, and he was no hero. "Forget it," he said loudly to Valtiel. "Go back wherever you came from and leave me alone." 

But then he could see her, a distant figure in a long dark dress. He could hear her too - she was crying, just as she had cried so many times as he comforted her. What was happening to her? He shook his head. In this town there were things even worse than Claudia's father.

As he watched, the darkness began to fade. Soon the hole in the wall would be gone, along with his chance of seeing Claudia again. "I'm sorry, Claudia," he murmured. "I'm not anyone's knight in shining armor." What could he do? He didn't have the courage to face his own dark side, let alone the darkness of Silent Hill. Vincent would stay in the empty church and do his best to forget about Claudia. 

He didn't love Claudia, he told himself, or even like her very much, but even as he thought that he realized that she was the only thing in the world besides himself that he didn't want to destroy. It was foolish and he was foolish and Valtiel was doubtless still laughing inside, but at the last possible moment Vincent said a prayer to entirely different god and stepped through.


End file.
